Bulgaria on the driver’s seat for EU legislation

January 30, 2018

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On the 1st of January, Bulgaria took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU’s main decision-making body. This means that Bulgaria sets the agenda and chairs national ministers’ EU meetings for a six-month period.

The leadership has come at a point in time when some files important for advertising agencies are being discussed. Bulgaria has no easier tasks than brokering a common approach on the ePrivacy Regulation and navigating through inter-institutional negotiations on the reform of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. That’s a whopping situation for a first-timer!

Since the start of the year, Bulgaria has enjoyed being in the spotlight of the international media. Being one of the youngest members of the EU with a Soviet past, the press has been eager to see how the country will steer top EU-policy and law-making for the first time in history. So far, at least the decision to reopen discussions on some basic principles of the ePrivacy Regulation has been a brave move and demonstrates that the country could be off to a promising six months!

Apart from political discussions, Nikolay Karadjov, the Director General of BACA – the Bulgarian Association of Communications Agencies – tells that Bulgaria is also on its way to attract more and more tourists. The local government has allocated a record budget for international promotion of Bulgaria as a tourist destination. ‘It is wonderful news for the communication agencies which will take on this job, too.’

This could indeed be a moment for the Bulgarian advertising agencies to shine. According to the Commission’s business confidence records, trust in the success of the Bulgarian advertising sector has remained positive for a few years, predicting more growth might be to come.

EACA sends greetings to all of our Bulgarian members and wishes success and best of luck for the upcoming months!

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) is a Brussels-based organisation which represents full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe. EACA aims to promote honest, effective advertising, high professional standards, and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies. For more information, visit www.eaca.eu.